Denwar History
by DiamondSculpture
Summary: The history and lore of the Denwar, from the Age of the Void till the Age of Enlightenment.


******Black Sun**

At the heart of the Galaxy lies a supermassive black hole, an immense rent in space-time that warps the very reality around it. It is the heart of the Galaxy for it is the sheer strength of its gravitic pull that acts as a pivot for the entire Galaxy itself. The Galaxy revolves around this center, it providing the hold necessary to keep the stars and their systems set in their unending rotation. Without it, the Galaxy will fall apart, its ends sent flinging across time and space, its center collapsing in upon itself. And with it ends even the remotest chance for the evolution of sentient life. Yet ironically while it is set in this action as Preserver of the Galaxy, it is by its nature Destroyer. For the Galaxy borrows its power, for it is a tremendous power with little else in comparison, that can be harnessed for evil as much as good. It is a power that is destructive by nature, a power that consumes all in its path. Nothing escapes it, not even light. Were even a single atom of matter to reach its boundaries, the forces of attraction within the black hole would draw it to within the depths of its center, crushing it in the process, breaking apart its definitions, it eventually becoming one with the singularity of the black hole.

Despite this, there are planetary star systems that orbit this black hole, treating it as they would a Sun, if not for the light it sheds but for its dominating presence. Seven planets exists within one of these such systems, each as barren as the next, indistinguishable husks of worlds riddled with rocky, wild mountainous regions. Were it not for the thin atmosphere that surrounds the fifth planet of the system, each would be just as desolate as the next, void of all life. Yet with just this one thin bubble of air arises the possibility of life. A myriad of strange lifeforms exists on the fifth planet, each as unique as the circumstances that brought them into existence. Without the light of a true Sun, it is impossible for natural vegetation to occur, thus these lifeforms have taken up various ways to overcome the unique attributes of their environment, developing an eco-system not shared by any other species in the universe. Some for instance, like the troglodytes, survive by eating rocks and minerals they scavenge in the dark caves within the mountains. Their bodies are made to process these minerals, extracting the required nutrients for their body composition. However, as there is little else naturally abundant to feed upon except other lifeforms, most of these bizarre lifeforms are predatory, equipped with vicious tendrils and fangs. Despite the wonderfully bizarre fauna proliferating upon an otherwise barren planet, it has been heavily disputed whether sentient life could ever occur in such a system without the necessary element of light. Such a light would come from a most unlikely source...

******The Great Void**

At the very heart of a black hole, the point of singularity which draws all matter towards it upon itself, the forces of gravity are so great that the conditions of reality lose certainty and form. The fabric of reality become highly unstable at this zero point; it can be said that the laws of physics lose all boundaries and what is certain becomes merged with the uncertain. The barriers between the Materium and the Immaterium are weakest here; in fact there exist no duality of realms, but the one singularity of the unconditioned Reality. Through this infinitesimal meeting point, Chaos, the very substance of the Immaterium, is able to leak through into the Materium, detectable as heat radiation perhaps by the sophisticated instruments of the Eldar race. Nonetheless, unwitnessed by most, black holes are silent staging points in which Chaos may gain entry into our realm. Unbeknownst by even the Eldar, freak warp storms that have their origins as leakages from black holes are just some of the ways in which Chaos has been able to affect, and thus mould, the primordial universe. Thus it came to be at the heart of the Galaxy, that one such warp storm came into existence.

It was a warp storm of gigantic proportions, unlike anything sentient beings have yet experienced. No one was completely sure as to the circumstances of its origins or the exact dimensions that it held over known space; as to how such a freak storm could occur, all were utterly clueless. In actual fact it was not one single warp storm, but rather an amalgamation of several smaller warp storms. At this point of time, conditions within the realms of Humanity experienced great internal shifts as a result of the warp storms. So great was the effect of the warp storms on Humanity's development that it heralded a new age for Man. What this meant was that the greater part of Humanity was cut off from contact for several long millenia, coupled with the ensuing internal strifes from a breakdown of structure, Humanity's progress as a whole was sundered, and was effectively brought to its knees as a result. Whether this helped in any small part to the rise of the Denwar as a race is uncertain, but what is known is that the Denwar were left in isolation for the greater part of their early years, free to grow without the hindrance of external forces until they were riped enough to stand on their own.

The seven planets at the heart of the Galaxy are unique in many respects, not the least of which is the tremendous concentration of minerals and metals upon and within their surface. The planets are literally gold mines of these precious resources; the fifth planet of the system was especially renown for its high concentration of rare jewels. Attempts were made during the Dark Age of Technology to claim these worlds for Humanity, but they were largely thwarted due to the incredibly hostile environments these worlds posed to sentient beings like Humans. They were at best, highly unnatural, due in part to the strangeness and lethality of the fauna that exist in the fifth world, but mostly because of the naturally brutal environments that were highly unsupportive of lifeforms that were created in worlds filled with light and water. For instance, the worlds themselves are highly magnetised, due to the extremely dense cores of molten metals, which generate unusual conditions for Humans not used to such climates, causing erratic brain wave activity and other undocumented phenomenon.

The warp storm took center stage at the heart of the Galaxy, bathing the entire region in an unnatural light. It was as if the entire cosmic sky was consumed by fire, brilliantly lit by the unmistakeable hues of the taint of Chaos. The very heavens appeared to move with the erratic display of this shimmering sea of light, pulsing with violent beauty. It seemed as if the entire heavens was in upheaval; an untamed sea of shifting colours, wild unnatural winds whirling and whipping, dissipating as uncannily as they came, ethereal lightning flashing forth, shattering the entire scene asunder. All these volatile activities had untold repercussions on the environments of the worlds, affecting them in a myriad of ways both minute and extensive. In particular, the fifth world, the only bearer of life within the region, suffered intense disturbances to its magnetosphere. One of the less significant consequences as a result was the occurrence of rapid mutation within the fauna of the world, caused by the increased in radiation from very high energy particles being released into the atmosphere. The more severe after-effect was the gradual deterioration of the magnetosphere on the whole. It gradually reached a point where the erratic interferences caused by the warp storm would compel the magnetosphere to malform at a startlingly degree. At the height of the malformation, the magnetosphere caved in so severely that it conceded a pinprick area of space that was effectively void of any magnetic field. At that exact point in time an immense surge of warp lightning sprang forth from the very heart of the warp storm itself, striking the surface of the fifth world. The pinprick area of space provided a path of least resistance for the lightning to travel, with none of the essential shielding of the magnetosphere braced against the force of the lightning, resulting in an impact of such penetrating force that it shook the world to its foundations. The ground fissured where the lightning struck the surface of the world, leaving a great scar that ran half the length of the planet before ceasing. Colossal shockwaves rippled forth from the point of contact, rocking the entire world with violent tremors. The shockwaves wrecked havoc on the internal movements of the geothermal flow beneath the crust of the planet, greatly upsetting the stability of the core. The core retaliated, discharging millions of cubic metres of lava abruptly onto the surface of the planet. The colossal shockwaves left much of the layers of the crust ruptured; as a result many loose fragments of rocks were carried up with the flow of the lava. Carried upon the surface by the flow of lava, the lava slowly ate away at the chunks of earth, leaving only the hardest and strongest of the rocks to be borne by the sea of fire. These rocks were often deepset, carrying rich pockets of minerals within. Eventually enough of the rocks were corroded that the minerals within were left exposed to the ravages of the storm. This event was soon to prove to be the catalyst for a chain of events that would bring about the emergence of sentient beings upon the fifth world.

Warp storms are gigantic paradoxes in and of themselves, phenomenons of such magnitude as to drastically affect the physical states around them, being primordial shapers of the physical realm, yet having no true place within the Materium, essentially of the make of the Immaterium, the dark side of the coin that is Reality. For a phenomenon so vast as to be able to cover several billion kilometres within the dimensions of material space to occur as mere leakages from black holes; the secrets of this paradox lies at the micro-level, within the inner workings of the basal elements of the warp. The realm of Chaos can be described as being pure, unconditioned energy. At times this energy remains stable but the Chaos within has a tendency towards change. This fragile stability is readily upset when the emotional energies of sentient beings impress their signatures into the fabric of the warp, essentially charging the pure energy with the natures of these emotions. The warp energy effectively gains characteristics corresponding with the nature of the emotions generated by these beings. Just like how the warp mirrors the Materium, so are the characteristics of these charged energy expressed as physical motions within the warp. For example, a person in deep meditative contemplation will be reflected in the warp in a similar fashion as the ripples caused by water slowly dripping into a pond. The aggressiveness of these emotions register as ever more intense movements of pure energy. Emotions and thoughts are not the only shapers of the movements of the warp; physical phenomenon distort the warp based on their correlative strength. This is the secret as to how Chaos leaks out from black holes into the Materium; the tremendous forces of the black hole are so intense that it is impressed upon the warp, albeit in a reverse effect of the attractive force of gravity, causing the Chaos at that parallel point within the warp to spiral outwards from the zero point. The incredibly rapid movements of the spiralling energies create a vortex that sucks the surrounding Chaos directly towards the zero point, ultimately spilling out of the black hole as leakages. One possible theory that stems from this truth may be that physical matter of the Materium have their origins as energy of the Immaterium, being simply containments of energy. Following along this logic, it would thus become thinkable to conclude that the entire physical realm is simply the ordered manifestations of this infinite energy. Further expansion of the universe can only happen with a corresponding release of energy into the Materium. It can then be postulated that the Materium consists of the possible realities that have been realised, while the Infinite Immaterium represents the totality of the possibilities yet to be conceived in form.

This raises the interesting question as to the appearance and form of Chaos, essentially energy imprints charged with emotion, and whether they will be constraint by the physical laws of the Materium. In fact, neither of these stay true; Chaos erupt into the Materium as pure energy and stay that way for it is impossible to harness something as abstract as emotions within the limitations of form. Chaos is thus highly unstable as it remains within the boundaries of the Materium, in fact being unable to retain its "composure" in its volatile state, eventually expressing itself by lashing out violently into the Materium, colliding indiscriminately with the physical particles around them. This in turn causes a chain reaction of movement as the particles of matter explode into one another, surging away from the force of the moving energy. This is the point where the irrational characteristics of the warp align with the ordered laws of the Materium, achieving a state of unification with no contradictions existing at any level. It can be said the infinite number of impossible realities within the folds of the warp are actualised through this process at the sub-atomic level. As pure energy cannot manifest itself in form within the Materium, when it enters into the physical realm, it immediately bonds with the physical particles closes to it, imbuing it with its energy signature. The essence of the warp makes itself present within the time span of this minute process, and it is at this stage of the process in which the warp affects the physical realm: as the Chaos energy imbues the particles with its energy signature, the particles are changed by the process, essentially warped by the impossible realities contained within the folds of energy signature as they unravel from a state of pure energy into a stable state of matter. This is how such rapid and inexplicable mutation occur in lifeforms from exposure to the warp, far surpassing the effects simple radiation could hope to induce at the same level. The rest of the energy that is not bonded with particles will, due to their volatile condition, strive towards a lesser, more stable state of energy, as such being in a constant state of entropy, at first by randomly releasing into space. The resultant collisions with physical particles accounts for the "wind" within a warp storm. These collisions explode out from the source of the release of Chaos energy, determined in size and speed by the sum energies of the release. The number of chain reactions that can be thus produced depends on the amount of Chaos energy released into the Materium, with amounts that are able to reach the levels of a warp storm essentially amounting to staggering millions of reactions occurring within the void of space simultaneously. Eventually Chaos will reach a stable state, crystallising into a visible, solid form, called Warpstone. These often form the posterior layers of the multi-dense warp storm, as the initial release of Chaos energy reached a stable state prior to the subsequent resulting reactions. A warp storm thus "moves" through space, propelled by the countless reactions as pure energy attempts to reach a less volatile state. In its wake are numerous debris, in the form of warpstones.

As the warp storm travels through space, encountering physical objects of varying size, it incontrovertibly affects them, causing various effects that can only be produced when the Warp meets with the Materium. Even planets are not spared; nothing is left unscathed in the wake of a warp storm. Especially in the case of the warp storm at the heart of the Galaxy in this juncture of time. As the warp storm progressed further into the heart of the Galaxy, it completely engulfed the fifth world, saturating its atmosphere with volatile Chaos energy. Such immediate contact caused the thin atmosphere to undergo drastic changes. In particular, the upper layers of the atmosphere became heavily ionised as the molecular reactions with the volatile energy stripped off the electrons of the air molecules. The entire upper layers was transformed into a sea of charged ions. Buffeted by the chaotic winds, the sea became a churning, dishevelled whirlpool, causing the ions to fire off rapidly in every direction, colliding indiscriminately. This allowed for a naturally mutable environment that the ions in their free states were susceptible to. The conditions were thus of such a state that it provided for normally impossible atomic reactions to occur, changing the composition of the air. This was in part due to the varied composition of the air, which provided the building blocks for the elemental changes, when ions of differing elemental compositions collide. The Chaos energy-saturated atmosphere provided the catalyst for these reactions, causing mere collisions to become highly complex bonding processes that significantly altered the bonded ions even at sub-atomic levels. In usual circumstances, immense amounts of energy would be required to disintegrate the strong nuclear bonds, and then reconstruct the constituent parts into new configurations. One possible theory maybe that the saturation of Chaos energy allows for a circumvention of the usual laws that confines such a process; and even darker possibility is that the immense amounts of energy required came directly from the Chaos saturated surroundings, giving rise to untold complications regarding the consequential nature of the altered atmosphere. For the first time in the history of the fifth world, dense clouds of an unknown composition filled the skies, an ominous sign of things to come...

The atmosphere was not the only altered element within the fifth world; the saturation reached even the lower realms, allowing Chaos to come into contact with the resident inhabitants of the planet. Such a vast, constant exposure to the Warp resulted in a rapid evolution of the fauna of the planet; some were mutated to such extents that they were barely recognisable from their original forms. Even inanimate elements were not spared; it appears the capacity of Chaos to mutate is not confined to the organic. However, one object stood out in its seeming immunity to Chaos: the minerals that were exposed to the atmosphere when the eruption of lava brought them to the surface of the planet. These minerals were gems in their unrefined form. Although unrefined, they maintain the same molecular structure. When the Chaos winds reached these minerals, as usual the processes that allow mutation occurred. The Chaos energy attempted to affect the structural integrity of the gemstones, but the gemstones apparently resisted. In actuality, an intriguing dynamic replaced the usual processes of Chaos mutation, or rather the expected products of bond-stripping and other aspects of the undermining of the bond structure of molecules do not occur when the gemstones became imfused with Chaos energy. What happened instead was that the gems absorbed the surrounding Chaos energy, and instead of experiencing bond-disintegration, retained the Chaos energy within the energy structure of their molecules. In this respect, the gemstones act very similar to memory crystal modules in the manner in which it stores information. Although the reasons for this are not clear, it has been attributed that the natural inertness of gemstones and their unique molecular configuration to be responsible for this phenomenon. In any case there is a unique implication to this phenomenon; as the Chaos energy is absorbed in its totality, its essence is preserved, leaving the energy structure of the minerals as a swirl of emotions and thoughts that were originally impressed into the Warp. These emotions and thoughts originate from sentient beings in other places within the Galaxy. It can be said that the gems are "alive"; the Chaos energy is stored in the way memory crystal modules store their data, and are retrieved in the same manner; with the necessary instruments, these gems can act as pseudo-computers, essentially a record of the memories of countless lives. However these gems are not truly alive; there is no solidarity within, the disembodied emotions and thoughts have no recognition of each other, being disparate elements although of the same constitution. In other words, there lacks the element of soul, the embodiment of self.

The gems did not stay self-contained forever, the natural inertness of the gems was unable to overcome the eventual tendencies of Chaos towards change. Eventually these energies attempted to leak out, however the inertness of the gems prevented them. The interior energy structure of the molecules becomes split into two, between the energies in revolt and the energies that still retained their stability. Eventually, even these stable energies lose their immutability and added on to the energies in revolt, accumulating to such degrees that they forced their way out of the barriers that contained them within the gems. This action had its consequences; the swirling energies broke out with such force that several of the bonds within the molecules succumbed and as a result, some electrons were dragged out with the flow. This deterioration appeared in gradual amounts, slowly leaving the gems in a highly ionised state.

Meanwhile, strange events were occurring in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The air there crackled with volatile energies, generated as the great columns of clouds collided with each other. Great flashes of light were witnessed streaking across the skies between the dark clouds, followed by deep rumblings that filled the spaces between the heavens. The upper layers had become a sea of ionised charges, and their collective charge reached such huge potentials that lightning was produced. This was in spite of the atomic reactions prior to the formation of the clouds, that due to the catalytic interference of the surrounding Chaos energy, would surely have caused the ionised molecules to settle into a stable form. Yet curiously the ions continued to remain free, a possibility only considerable if the molecules had achieved a liquid state as a result of the reactions... In any case, the great cloud columns soon merged together, forming ever denser clouds that covered entire regions of space. This was hardly the end of it; new clouds were forming by the second, an unstoppable process as the warp storm continued to rage across the planet. Eventually, the entire upper layers were ionised, fusing into one super massive cloud that stretched across the entire globe from end to end. This reached a critical charge mass; as there was no longer differing potentials between the cloud columns since they had merged into one, the tremendous potential of the collective ion charges within the super massive cloud had nowhere to spill forth, except of course towards bodies external to it. Overloaded with charge, it began discharging towards the surface of the planet. The gemstones, left in highly ionised states as a result of the Chaos energies, provided the basis for the lightning to travel to, each affording the other a mutuality of attraction as a result of their contrasting ionised states. As the immense bolts of lightning struck the gemstones, the swirling mass of disparate emotions and thoughts were galvanised into activity. All of a sudden the disarray of disembodied thoughts and emotions became centered and focussed, each strand of sentience aligning its essence with the strands around them, working in unison, interlacing, forming intricate bonds of recognition, until soon the flow of thoughts and emotions had become smooth and ordered. They had become one. It was as if the gemstones were living hearts, pulsing with intention, as they groped with their newfound sensitivity into the unknown world before them. The unruly behaviour of the energies as they attempted to break free of the gemstones had ceased; now they were regulated by order, by a higher sentience, which imposed its will on its composite parts, that individually had no power to resist. Yet still they resisted; as each component retained separate sentience, the whole remained fractured and afflicted. Until the collective sentience stood dominant over every unit, permeating each resistance with its higher consciousness, would solidarity be achieved, and with it arises the awareness of self. So it was that the initial moments of the formation of sentience were extremely fragile. Eventually as order wrestled with chaos as the collective whole attempted to secure its dominion, the emerging consciousness was highly prone to being shaped by the forces around them.

As order settled unto the swirling mass of emotions and thoughts, each resistance being absorbed into the gestalt as the unitary fragments of consciousness coordinated in ever increasing complexity, the vestiges of a mind slowly emerged within the developing ego complex. With the arising of the mind, the ego-awareness trapped within the gemstones were not only subject to the flow of Chaos energy within the Materium but were also registering imprints of their psyche within the fabric of the Immaterium. The disembodied thoughts and emotions were no longer simply isolated strands of differentiated consciousness from numerous unnamed sources, but were transmuted into a greater whole, a process of a level that engendered a shift in the quality of the consciousness, dissolving all the ego boundaries that secluded the shards of consciousness from each other. Such was the gift of lightning. The gemstones were now thinking and feeling constructs, generating their own independent thoughts and feelings that were not born of the fragments of consciousness that constituted them. With their burgeoning sentience, the mind constructs turned their attention to the world beyond, relishing in their newfound powers of sensitivity. In their primal state of psychic awareness, as yet unencumbered with none of the limitations of the physical senses, the mind constructs instinctively extended the attention of their psychic energies beyond the physical boundaries of the gemstones, the barriers that had once served to separate the flow of Chaos energies within from without. It was a stepping stone, a testament to the development of the collective sentience that it was now defined to an extent that went beyond the need for physical perimeters to secure its selfdom. Awareness in its pure, unadulterated form, the unconditioned sensitivities of the mind constructs were plunged into the madness that pervaded the world outside. The ceaselessly moving Chaos winds, bearing with them streams of sentient energy, enveloped the intruding psychic energies of the mind constructs, threatening to warp them. To the developing mind constructs, the streams of sentient energy were especially anathema. In contrast to the ego gestalt, they posed an utterly alien infringement upon the self-defining boundaries of the mind constructs, since they were emotions and thoughts that had become foreign and disassociated from their original ego sources. As such, their influence was considered highly malignant upon the fledgling minds, unravelling the weaker links as they assaulted the borders of the ego gestalt.

Up till then, the flow of energy within the gemstones was experiencing a continuous state of progression towards a unified whole, as the random, interlaying movements of sentience were associating in ever greater complexity, attaining a higher order that pervaded its entirety. With each successful integration of disparate strands of sentience, a new layer of consciousness was achieved, and with it a step closer towards a completed whole, and the emergence of a distinct self. However, working against the flow of this progress, the newer layers of consciousness, as yet unseasoned to the effects of the Chaos winds, were highly vulnerable to conversion by the streams of alien energy. In this way the Chaos winds slowly undermined the forms of the fledgling minds, ripping away their very substance. Meanwhile, the mind constructs sensing all of this, immediately recoiled from the external world and its perils, attempting to shut off their malignant influences. It was an arduous process, with the mind constructs being tested in the extreme. All of their efforts were put towards securing their survival in this unforgiving sea of chaos. Towards this order, the mind constructs bent their will towards their centres, focussing the ordered alignments of consciousness in towards themselves. The flow of energy within became a spiralling vortex, acting against the depreciating efforts of the alien energy by drawing in an equal amount of energy from without. Through sheer brute force, the strands of consciousness that were as yet unaligned were subjugated through the uniformed direction of the spiralling flow. Eventually the flow stabilised, but the effects of the process were irreversible. It was one of the more trying times in the genesis of the Denwar as a species, and the monumental will required had forever changed their psyche. In exchange they had developed an immense mental fortitude, a scar of the battle, and consequentially were highly resistant to change. Their stream of consciousness had become a spiralling whirlpool of thought, ever reaching inwards towards the core of its center. As a result, the Dhawi are noted for being highly focussed individuals who take to a single task with extreme concentration and discipline. They are also noted for an extreme stubbornness and steadfastness, even in the face of overwhelming odds, as their minds are too inclined towards one mindset to consider even another option.

Then, it rained. From the heavens came a downpour of a golden liquid, from the ionised clouds so formed from the Chaos warpstorm. The golden liquid saturated the exposed mineral ores and gemstones, and the "miracle water" removed all impurities over the misshapen shapes of rock and ore. This was how the Denwar was given form to life, as the liquid flowed over the gemstones inset into the rocks, and according to the ideal template given by the gestalt consciousness signature within the gemstone, carved out a form to the ideal formations of the arisen "Self" within the gemstones. And this was how we, the Denwar, were created.

******The Age of Void**

We came from the Void, that was what we knew. From our rock bodies, we attained form, and with our gemstone hearts encoded the memories of countless past lives of sentient creatures, we knew our essence. We stood stout and stocky, in squat forms, and as we gazed at the night sky coloured with the rainbow clouds of the warpstorm, we knew of a more perfect form, filled with grace, of taller figures that haunt our dreams. We called them our Ancestors, Ancestor Gods. We created myths of them, recollected from the memories that laid in our hearts. We thus knew we came from the Void, and our speech, Khazalid, was formed of a vulgarised and plagiarised version of the myriad tongues our consciousness, that which originated from countless other lifeforms, spoke. Thus we knew, however dimly, that we came from beyond the depths of space, of that great void above us, from which dotted the sky with distant lights. We were not true in our forms, stout and stocky as a result of some warped evolution. When we first came to sentience, we took to hiding in the great caves of the regions of our world Vatn. When the dangers passed, we would come out and gaze under the night sky, at a sea of light, and dreamt of foreign lands where once roamed our Ancestry, our origins.

We spoke of our Ancestor Gods, in our minds' visions' great warriors of old, to explain our origins, from which we say we descended from the Gods of the Void. There, in the history of other worlds, lie our explanations of our origins. The Ancestor Gods, the people within our memories that we carried on in our consciousness, were thought of as perfect in form, graceful and tall in shape, completely unlike us. They were inspired by the real life peoples from which our memories and consciousness took registry from. Thus we called ourselves Denwar, or "Squat" in our vulgar language.

Gazing at the worlds that dotted the starscape above us, we named them each after elements in our language. Jord, 1st within the star system, meaning "Earth" for being exceptionally dense and extremely rich in rare minerals and metals, a dense black ball in the sky above us. Ginnungagap, 2nd within the star system; the Yawning Gap, a miniaturised blackhole caused by the unnatural phenomenon of the Warpstorm. The reason why venturing near Jord is dangerous, due to their proximtiy. Himinn, 3rd within the star system; in stark contrast to Ginnungagap, the lofty Himinn, Sphere of Lights is an almost divine heaven that is as yet devoid of life. Himinn naturally generates an exceptionally large magnetic field that makes entry beyond that planet difficult, another reason the resource-laden world of Jord has yet to be plundered; the hall of Valhalla is said to reside here, awaiting fallen warriors who have fought valiantly in battle, to carry them to the feast of Saehrimnir on the wings of the Valkyrie, a divine boar that is cooked every night and returns whole the next day, while the Valkyrie's existence was divined from the flashing sparks that would be visible from Vatn's night sky, carried by the solar winds that collide with the magnetic field of Himinn. Vindr, 4th within the star system; the Shell of Shattered Winds, Vindr, is a planet that has been shattered into 7 floating world shells over its core, by the incidence of a gigantic Warplightning from the Warpstorm that tore the planet asunder. Vatn, Homeworld of the Denwar; 5th within the star system, so named being the only planet with water, apart from Himinn. Agnirheimr, the Home of Melding Fire, 6th planet within the star system; this world is constantly ablazed with heat reaching temperatures far in excess of what any planet would normally generate in any circumstances. It was to be used by the Denwar as a forge world, due its great heat, which they use as a giant furnace to forge their most rarest and precious of metals into the greatest weapons of all. As the truly powerful Master Runes can only be inscripted within the fiery depths of Agnirheimr, which the Dhawi do so with the aid of Exo-Armours, Agnirheimr is also called the Runeworld, and Agnir Firehammer himself was named after this glowing planet, such was his skill as the first Runesmith. And finally Prymja, the 7th and last of the Homeworlds; world of the Xenarch, the Thunder Arches, the strange beings made of living Warp energy that was formed from the coalescing of Warplightning within the unique environment of Prymja. The entire world is perpetually clouded over by great black clouds that constantly generate charges of lightning, and that is how new Xenarches are born.

At first the world was hostile, and we took to defending ourselves by hiding in the mountain caves to keep away from the many predatory beasts that roam the land. There, inspired by the myth of the Ancestor God Grungni, who was the god of the mountains, we took to mining and smithing, upon chancing upon in some distant recollection of the use of the minerals within the heart of the mountains, and upon meeting with lava; "Fire". With fire, the heat of the lava within the backbones of the mountains, did we smith, and with it we forged great weapons of yore, with which we did battle with the predators of the lands. Soon the hunted became the hunter, and these first, brave Denwar whose "lineage" came from the myths of Grungni, were the Blacksmiths, forgers of fire and iron.

******The Age of Strife**

With the weapons forged by the Blacksmiths, we drove off the great threats of the land, and installed ourselves as the ruling species upon the planet. Then, some ambitious Blacksmiths, took to the idea of uniting the disparate clans of our "ancient" race, with war and fire, and most of all, Iron. We called them Warsmiths, and the first of them, the one to be known as the Forge of War, Agnir Firehammer, was soon to be celebrated in an even higher station, Runesmith. Among these Blacksmiths, there arose legendary leaders of war, who with wielding ever increasingly deadly weapons of war, with their smithing skill, from which the legendary Warhammer drew its reputed origins and fame from, were known as Warsmiths, and after taming the beasts of the lands, took to battle amongst themselves, in wars of massive magnitudes that took to marching of whole clans. The Warsmiths' actions were dedicated to the "lineage" of Grimnir, first of the Warrior Gods of the Ancestor Gods.

Then, among the Warsmiths of renown, there was one legendary Warsmith, gifted among the rest for his skill at forging. He had rumoured to have created the Tempered Blade, the very height of achievement of the art of forging itself. All along as they mastered the crafts of forging, they gradually through their trials, developed and mastered their skill, till the best of them were near peerless. Among them arose the idea of an artifact crafted of such sheer skill and artifice, that it should be considered the masterwork of their kind, the Tempered Blade. To craft that weapon of power, it is said that only one who is able to fuse the Runes of Fire into the blade of the weapon can create it, and that man was Agnir Firehammer, the first Warsmith and Runesmith. The Runes themselves were the creation of the first written language of our race, hammered into the cave walls with those very same tools of forging. It is said the written script of the Runes depict the actual forging process of melding iron with fire, to create ultimately the Tempered Blade itself. The Tempered Blade itself was forged into the fabled weapon of the Warhammer, by Agnir Firehammer, from which he used to unite the disparate clans into one united entity, during what came to be called The Age of Fire and Strife.

The written language of the Denwar was one constituted of deep meaning in the construction of the characters. The very ways in which the language is carved onto the cave walls held meaning, and only the first Runesmith, Agnir Firehammer knew the exact means for fusing the Runes into the Warhammer. Thus he was the first Runesmith. It is said that as the crafting of language was directly related to forging, being constructed as a means of conveying its process through it, the Tempered Blade itself is the very epitome of the forge, being an instrument that directly translates the forging and refining process in the act of creating it itself. Thus it is the embodiment, the Living Example of the Runes taken to Form.

Then came the end of the Age of Strife, with the unity created by Agnir Firehammer as he sought to bring together the various clans into cooperation through the tides of battle, by wielding the Tempered Blade itself. But the ordeals he faced in the process of that act would test his skill and command to the limits, and earn him the moniker, The Forge of War. One of these trials describe an event that led to the creation of the Slayer Guild, "Throrin's Oath", by none other than Throrin Oathbeard himself. Though the skin of the Denwar was of stoneskin, they had long flowing beards that were a result of age. The older a Denwar, the longer his beard, and since the Denwar had such respect for ancestry, given their own Myth of their Ancestry, the beard held a special meaning among the Denwar. Throrin Oathbeard was the Warsmith that fought under Agnir Firehammer, and was his second-in-command in fact. He earned his name and repute by being the first Warsmith to fight under another Warsmith, and although this might seem small means for reputation, was because he was the first Warsmith to recognise the leadership of the Runesmith Agnir Firehammer, and so came under his fold thus. He took an oath under Agnir Firehammer, swearing that if he ever betrayed his trust, he will cut off his beard and take to the supreme devotion of vowing and taking vengeance upon his name, to "proof himself a Slayer" in his own words, thus earning his name, Oathbeard. This was to come true, though not in the expected way, when an enemy of the Forge of War, captured and cut off the beard of Throrin, knowing and understanding both the shame and humiliation to his taken avowed oath, and against his Ancestry as a Longbeard of Ancient Days. When Throrin was saved by Agnir, he said he will take up his oath and live by it, and having since had his beard removed, even if by force, he will forever leave his station as Warsmith next to Agnir, and become the first Slayer, the Slayer King of the Guild of "Throrin's Oath". It was not a recognised and established Guild, but all similarly dishonoured Denwar would henceforth take up the same "Throrin's Oath", in the fashion of their founder and originator, and shave off their beard, for whatever slight misdeed and dishonour, and wear it as a badge upon their bare skin, and from then on seek death as a means of avenging the deed, throwing themselves in a hunt for the greatest threat they can ever face, as a means of restoring honour. As of now, such is the skill of the Slayer King Throrin Oathbeard, that he has yet to avenge his dishonour through death, and he even once saved Agnir, after leaving him, when the Runesmith was cut off from all retreat, not as if he would, but for the fact that he was all alone from any aid. Just as doom seemed near, Throrin appeared on the scene, and with his Great Cleaver in hand, carved a path of blood to Agnir, freeing his former master from certain death.

With that one singular act, the war was won for Agnir, as that was the final deciding battle between the last Warsmith that resisted Agnir's attempt at unification through strife. And for his act of uniting the disparate Stronghold Clans into one single organisation, Agnir Firehammer became the first Mountain King, "Mountain" for symbolising his greatness, a stature "as large as a mountain". Among the established Warsmiths and those under them, the Blacksmiths, came in their union, the setting of the "Tempered Blade" Guild of Smiths, with the three recognised nominations of Blacksmith, Warsmith and Runesmith, becoming the ranks to the rungs of difficulty in crafting the ideal weapon, the Tempered Blade itself.

******The Age of Establishment**

With the end of the Age of Strife with the unification of the clans, came the start of the Age of the Establishment. During the Age of Establishment, great homes were carved out of the mountainsides, as there were no longer any need for warring, and the great clans of the Denwar needed stable homes to reside in. This gave rise to a new profession, the Masons. The Masons were masters of carving stone and earth, and thus through their efforts, the homes of the clans were created within the mountains. Then, above the Masons, came the Architects, for they saw aesthetic where the Masons only saw earth and stone, and they oversaw the procedures of masonry, that the homes of the clans would be made beautiful and pleasing to the eye. They were as much homes as sheer designs the size of mountains. The important instrumental metal discovered at this age was the Diamond, when once previously it was the Iron. With Diamond sharp tools they could carve into the mountains and create holds of beauty from the designs of the Architects. As Denwarian masonry became more advanced, more and more was placed the emphasis on aesthetic, as it developed. Thus came the Sculptors, Denwar who made aesthetic design a priority above all else, using diamond scalpels they shaped whole rock and granite into stone sculptures of exquisite skill and beauty.

Then just like it was during the Age of Strife with the Blacksmiths, there came the idea of a masterwork, attainable only to the most determined and skilled of the Sculptors. It was called the Diamond Sculpture, made by shaping pure diamond into a figure or statue that only the most tremendously skilled could hope to achieve, in both difficulty and beauty, by using a Diamond Scalpel. Using a Diamond Scalpel itself as a means of shaping this lump of pure diamond required tremendous devotion and skill, due to its sheer difficulty and tiresomeness, and the man who was to achieve this lofty goal is none other than the very first Sculptor himself, Ungrim Arthentul. He crafted this statue according to his own likeness, in homage to his stature as one of the Mountain Kings, and as representative of his own personal achievement as a pivotal means towards his goal of fulfilling the masterwork. The Diamond Sculpture, masterwork of the Sculptors, was placed within the great hall of Karak-a-Karaz, "The Stronghold of the Ancestors", the Stronghold of the Ancestor Clan of Agnir Firehammer, in homage to his role in uniting the clans.

Just as Agnir Firehammer was renown for uniting the disparate clans through warfare, Ungrim Arthentul was known for his Establishment, which listed the laws that would establish and settle the clans into order, and for his grand act of administering as his first act, the establishment of the creation of the Mountain Holds that would serve as homes for the clans during this great Age. Agnir was thus known as the Forge of War, while Ungrim was known as the Stoneform Lawgiver, and his age in his station as the second Mountain King, the Age of Establishment. The Establishment Laws are written in Runic script within a book of diamond, held within the hands of the Diamond Sculpture. Among the Written Laws of the Establishment, is the importance of the "Diamond Sculpture" Guild of Masons, Architects and Sculptors, as being one of the core foundations of Denwar civilisation, together with the Clansmen Warriors of the Oathhold Clans, divided between the greater Ancestor Clans and the lesser Stronghold Clans. The upholders of the Establishment was left to a small offshoot Guild comprised from the Clansmen Warriors of the Ancestor Clans, established by Ungrim, the "Thunder Fist" Guild of Judges, said to trace its ancestral "lineage" from Valaya, Ancestor Goddess of hearth and home, and above all, protection. New initiates into this Guild had to be judged incorruptible by the Stoneform Lawgiver himself, and they judged order on the rest of the Denwar with absolute justice.

******The Age of Technology**

In the successor Age, the people of the Denwar were comfortably resided in their homeworld, and they thus went about tinkering into higher pleasures and faculties. Tinkers they were called, for it all started with experimentations of small and exquisite gears and the making of clockwork toys for the young children of the Denwar. The Tinkers went about their business with a strange devotion given the main view of perception of that of a frivolous art by the majority of the Denwar populace. It turned out they were busy with an idea sparked by the greatest of them, the first Tinker himself, Kazador Weldenmar. And that was, in many ways the masterwork of the Tinkers, the Living Mechanism, a Clockwork toy that ran on its own gears through the sheer delicacy of its interlocking gears, a mechanism that ran on a power all of its own, thus mimicking the motive power of real life. Through his discovery of electricity, the first Living Mechanical Clockwork toy came to be powered, one that didn't run on a limited lifespan as it is with clockwork wind-up toys. This would later apply to many of the technological inventions of that age, like the Gyrocopter and the Land Train. Thus Kazador is also known as the Soulspark Inventor.

With the advent of electricity and the fulfillment of the masterwork of the Living Mechanism, Kazador Weldenmar founded the "Living Mechanism" Guild of Engineers. The Engineers were the offspring of the Tinkers, they were the ones to apply the currents of electricity into designed machines of technology, and were responsible for their production. Above that rank, the Mechanicians were senior to the Engineers, and they were more involved in the gears and mechanisms of the inner workings of the electric motors of these machines, thus possessing a level of expertise above the mere construction of the machines. The Tinkers, became the name for the ultimate rank for the Guild itself, in homage to their roots and legacy as being founded by the tinkering of "mere" Tinkers. The metal of note during this age was the Alloy, refined and tempered by the Chemists of the "Golden Elixir" Guild.

******The Age of Darkness**

Then comes The Age of Darkness, the entire firmly established peace of the clans was upset by an ambitious and gifted upstart, Hariman Windcarver, the Voidheart. Jewellery of precious metals called gemstones were an item of luxury during the times of the Age of Technology onwards, and the innovators and pioneers of the art of jewellery were the Jewellers of the Air Vaults. Within their great underground vaults, they proceeded to the art of crafting and carving jewels from raw and rare gemstones. One of them made an important discovery: that these gemstones interacted with their magnetic hearts, and were thus controllable by them from a distance. He was known as Hariman Windcarver...and it turned out, a secret sect within the Underground Air Vaults had already discovered this, and were keen to initiate young Hariman into their coven. Hariman swiftly rose up the ranks of the Animators, as they called themselves, for their telekinetic ability of motivating gemstones into animation. At the very height of the ranks of the Animators was the Crystalgazer, for he was the first to discover this unique affinity they had with the gemstones. Just by gazing alone, he could move gemstones into bonding, and he was the first to pioneer and teach the art of bonding separate gemstone pieces into a whole, from which he could then animate the core gemstone into the Bejewelled Heart of a golem. Thus essential to this was the breath of life, and which somehow the Crystalgazer was in the know of and could animate golems at will.

Through sheer genius alone, Hariman discovered the secret of golem animation on his own. He aligned the magnatic frequency of the gemstone heart of his own Sunstone gem that he found in the deepest depths of the Air Vault network, and through bonding the parts of his Sunstone Golem through his animating abilities, he proceeded to program thoughtwave patterns into the gemstone heart's unique memory signature. Through sheer determination, he mastered the masterwork of the Animators, the Bejewelled Heart, and with this Sunstone Heart empowering his Sunstone Golem, he sychronised his magnetic frequencies with the Sunstone and wore the Golem like an armour, having so crafted it thus this way. He went on to challenge the Crystalgazer to a duel, hanging on the line both their lives and the title of Crystalgazer. The Moonstone Golem of the previous Crystalgazer was thus in this way superseded by Hariman's Sunstone Golem, but Hariman spared the life of his previous master, knowing him for his talents and being the pioneer of their secret art.

Teaching his new followers the art of Crystalgazing, in order to synchronise the magnetism of their own gemstone hearts with the gemstone heart of the golems, he thus taught them the secret that was kept hidden from them by the previous Crystalgazer. Also, important to note, is that this art of crystalgazing is very much like all the previous crafts before it, an art of self-purification and refinement. It was discovered through understanding the inner, higher self of the Denwar, by that very first Crystalgazer, who was also the very first pioneer of the art of jewellery, by the name of Zhartan Rykarth. By understanding that their hearts were made of gemstones like those very precious and beautiful gemstones they took as items of luxury, he understood the deeper implication that they could control them, and thus affect changes beyond their bodily domain. By seeding and programming these gemstones with their own will, in a sense imparting their willpower into them, they could thus animate beings of stone into replicas of their own animated life force, thus gifting them the breath of life. All of this reflected the Denwar's own devotion towards the Masterwork, achieving the power of creation itself, in gifting inanimate objects the breath of creation.

Gathering his followers, the Animators and even the junior members, the Jewellers, he told them the true secret behind the Crystalgazer, how he was able to steer the course of the livelihood of their trade to success. It was the true power of crystalgazing, by prying into the future through the mystical power contained within the gemstones. These crystal balls held deep meaning within them, but it was unsure to these new followers how they worked, how they could scry the future through the simple act of gazing into them. It puzzled them, and Hariman taught them how it worked. By gazing alone into the crystals, the memory signature of the gemstone crystal ball could be synchronised with the will of the Denwar's own gemstone heart, thus appearing before them is the idea dream held within the heart of its possessor. And Hariman saw war within the crystal ball. He saw a new fire of union forged amidst the stars, through the bloodshed of their kin. In the preceding age of luxury, the Age of Technology, although there had been progress, much had been given to laxity and decline, with their race gluttoned on technological advances. In his heart's desire, and in his mind's reckoning, he saw a new age was to be at hand, and only through the crucible of war once again could their race be purified and advanced, brought about from the lethargy and laziness against progress they had sunk deep into. And rallying his Gemstome Golems together with their Animators and Jewellers, they proceeded to wage war against the rest of their kind.

And terrible and fierce was that war, with the hard as diamond Golems at the forefront of the battles, they fought against the mechanical wonders of the Engineers, Mechanicians and Tinkers of the "Living Mechanism" Guild, against Gyrocopters and Colossi and Exo-Armour suited Miners. At the height of the war, Hariman Windcarver faced off against the leader of the Age of Strife, the one who united them all in the first place, Agnir Firehammer, atop Karak-a-Karaz. A titanic battle was waged, against the Sunstone Golem Armour, and the Tempered Blade Warhammer, and at the climax of it, the glass mosaic of the tower of Kazador, depicting the unification of the clans through the Warhammer was shattered, and Hariman was in full view of the carnage his war had waged over the lands. Countless dead laid among the ruins of their once proud civilisation, and in deep regret for going too far with his war, Hariman placed down his weapons and weeped. He had realised sooner yet, that his war had gone overboard and done more harm than the good it was meant to rekindle. In a great clarion voice resounding over the battlements, he shouted his declaration of the end of the war, having no longer any reason to perpetuate it. Not all were to listen to Hariman though. some of the Animators, under the leadership of the previous Crystalgazer, Zhartan Rykarth, continued to fight against the Denwar Oathhold Clans. Now, with the cooperation of the four Mountain Kings, this rebeliion was successfully quelled with haste. These rebellious Denwar were caged and imprisoned in the dungeons of Karak-a-Karaz.

******The Age of Enlightenment**

Having gone with the Age of Darkness, comes the Age of Enlightenment. One would carry on the work put into motion through honourable, albeit belligerent means, by Hariman Windcarver, the Voidheart Redemptor, Odin Eriksson. Odin Eriksson was the starter of the art of the process of refining raw ores of metals, for the sake of their use in the machines of the "Living Mechanism" Guild of Engineers and Mechanicians. Consumed with his goal of a masterwork of the Refiners, or Chemists, he went about in the Water Refineries as they were called, distilling and filtering and sifting and brewing, until he achieved the ultimate transmutation of lead into gold. This art as it was known was called alchemy, a mystical variant of the science of chemistry, practised by the higher ranked Chemists, called Alchemists. It was believed by them that the ultimate metal was none other than the very rarest, gold, also the most beautiful. It was said that realising the Golden Elixir, masterwork of the Philosophers, was akin to achieving eternal life. This was the main preoccupation of the Denwar race at this point, for due to their unique origins of being made from the fusing of the elements, had slowly ran out of the electric energy that spark their magnetic hearts, and having slowly given in to the decline of entropy, and being made of stone and earth in the first place, had not the means to replenish the population. A great fear of the void of death overcame them, and they sought to a saviour who would deliver them from the judgement of death. All of a sudden, in their moment of desperation, a man imbued with golden lustre like an aura about his being came forth from the Water Refineries, a man known to them as Odin Eriksson.

He came speaking in vehement oratories that inspired the spark of creation within them, of a so-called hidden and last masterwork of alchemy, the Golden Elixir. "I have imbibed of it, and drank drunk from its distillation of inspiration. It is the wine of the Gods themselves, a great potion that gifts immortality and eternal life, through inspiring them with the divine breath of Creation. This golden liquid flowing down to the very crystal hearts we bear, rejuvenates and cleanses us anew, shining as gold, the blue gold of cleansing rain."

This was said in respect to the fact that the Denwar were made into wholeness through a divine rain that occurred in the atmosphere of their world when the elemental process of their creation was occurring. The Denwar were created by the fusing of the elements within a single being of gemstone heart and earth flesh, they had come to learn from the findings of the Crystalgazers. They had magnetic properties thus generated by their heart, and could attract stones and earth to regenerate their bodies from injury, and lost body parts, but they had no real means of reproduction. "Gifted with the tongue of gold, from this very liquor of fluid eloquence itself, I thus come forth with the Midas' Touch, transmuting the laden lead of your heavy burdens into the most luxuriant gold of luminous self. Thus inspired, you can no longer look back upon your past regressions, having attained the fruit of Enlightenment through this Golden Elixir that I present to you forth in the manifestation of moving speeches, that soars your spirit into heights of rapture and ecstasy."

"That is the true secret of immortality, its true gold and goal. Inner purity and refinement of self and nature, allowing you to transcend the bodily cage of existence that now declines in. Like that primordial divine rain that first descended upon the earthen mould of our then lifeless bodies, gifting us the breath of life, we too can renew our aging vessels with the Golden Elixir, for in truth, it is but all along within you. Only the truest seekers are able to distill the riddle of my words, encrypted in the Runic tongue, for it is indeed written in the code of the Runic language, Khazalid."

In this way the cycle of Fire and Water, was complete. The secret of the Golden Elixir is this: that it does not exist except metaphorically, within the hearts of the Denwar themselves. The process of distilling the Golden Elixir is equivalent to the process of refining the soul, purifying it of the lesser and baser impurities gathered through the action of Causality, or Cause and Effect. Having attained this truth, the soul is liberated and gains eternal life, having found a means of rejuvenating itself through the shedding of the old earth of body, and attracting new metals and rocks to its foundation, and through a constant mental state of livelihood and fervent engagement with life and reality, does one continually spark the soul's light of creation and life. Through this means in fact, the Great Philosopher Odin Eriksson actually attained the highest masterwork of all, the creation of the fabled Golden Elixir. By rearranging animated parts of Gemstones and bonding them to a gemstone heart, through the art of the Animators, and then crystallising the essence into whole, the Dhawi were able to replicate the effects of reproduction, by imbibing the new Denwar with the Golden Elixir, which was discovered to be of the same constitution as the divine rain that started their race, except this time it is through an internal transmutation, through transfusing the Golden Elixir into the body of the new Denwar.

These new Denwar created this way were far more powerful than the crude earth and stone bodies of the previous Denwar, and were called Demiurg, or Men of War.


End file.
